Savvy consumers satisfied with older models

The Yomiuri Shimbun

More consumers are choosing not to buy the latest models of home electrical appliances and other items, finding older models offer sufficient performance for lower prices and can be easily purchased through the Internet.

In one example, a 45-year-old male company employee bought a drum-type washer-dryer for about 70,000 yen at an electronics retail store in Tokyo last year. The model came out five years ago and is no longer being manufactured.

According to the man, the store had the model in stock and it cost about half the price of the latest similar model.

It does not save as much water and electricity as the latest model, but "I thought the old model was good enough, as the design was almost the same," he said.

A digital camera that a 26-year-old female company employee bought for about 30,000 yen at an electronics retail store this spring was about 10,000 yen less than the latest model of the same type.

"Although its image quality isn't as good as the latest one, it was cheaper and since I bought it to take pictures on trips and at friends' weddings, it did what I needed it to do," she said.

"Many older models are ranked as top-sellers among digital cameras and flat-screen TVs," said Takeshi Kamada, general manager of the Media Creative Department at Kakaku.com, Inc. The company runs Kakaku.com, a Web site that compares prices of various products.

Some models introduced on the market a few years ago are still being sold as new products, Kamada said.

Only limited stock is available for certain models, but manufacturers continue to produce some older models even after launching their successors. These older models are described as "lower models" of the newest ones.

As they do not have the latest features and designs, prices are lower and the products are easily accepted by consumers who prefer cheaper goods, according to Kamada.

The Internet also has given consumers more opportunities to buy older models. The number of goods that can be displayed in physical stores is limited, but on the Internet, an infinite variety of products can be offered. Sellers can obtain products from wholesalers after receiving orders from customers.

Also, people can easily compare the prices and features of old and new models on the Internet. An increasing number of people seem to be realizing that older models often have sufficient features.

In some cases, the popularity of new models actually attracts people's attention to older versions.

Prius EX grade models, older versions of the latest Prius hybrid cars sold by Toyota Motor Corp., are still produced and sold--an average of about 1,600 models monthly.

They are mainly purchased for business use but some are bought for private use, according to the company. The price of the old model is 1.89 million yen, compared with more than 2 million yen for the current model.

Kamada's advice on choosing old models was not to delay too long: "If people wait too long for the price of an old model in stock to go down, it might sell out."

Also, some old models remain unsold because they are hard to use or have other faults.

"It's also necessary to check reviews about a product's flaws," Kamada said.

Business consultant Tetsuya Abe said makers' intention to make old models obsolete by introducing new ones, with new functions, has frequently turned out to be impractical, as consumers have become savvy in choosing products.

"As technology has matured, it's become difficult to introduce innovative new products. Even if manufacturers change models, consumers aren't interested in them," Abe said. "This is an era when consumers aren't automatically attracted to new products."